This dissertation investigates the impact of cross-modal binding on word reading skills among English Language Learners (ELLs). Using Baddeley's updated working memory model, which includes the Episodic Buffer, this study examines how the ability to bind visual and phonological information in memory influences the reading development of ELL…

Executive function is deficient in individuals with ADHD. Playing a musical instrument has been shown to improve executive functions. This study examined if participants with ADHD perceived a connection between playing an instrument in a music ensemble and improved executive functioning, as well as improved ADHD presentations. The research design…

Executive functioning (EF) is found to be a powerful predictor for children's school readiness and long-term school outcomes. However, the current research base indicates that children with autism may have an increased likelihood of experiencing deficits in EF or delayed developmental trajectories. Additionally, although there is ample evidence…

In this study the experiences of Black (a.k.a. African Americans/ Negroes) educational leaders were explored focusing on the period during the transition to a more desegregated public- school setting in the state of Florida. Using retrospective storytelling and reflections of 'leading' during desegregation, the lived experiences of those in…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a simulation with worked examples on the creation of episodic memories and the troubleshooting ability of maintenance technician students. Previous research shows that domain knowledge, conceptual knowledge, strategic knowledge, and episodic memories are all required to successfully…

"How can teachers help students improve their second language (L2) speaking accuracy?" This is a question that most L2 educators ask themselves every day. Although L2 writing is a popular topic among Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers, the consideration that L2 writing has the potential to act as a scaffold for L2 speaking…

The relevant literature concerning the relationship between humorous intervention and academic performance features conflicting evidence. Authors present evidence that humor is able to directly benefit student academic performance (Ford et al., 2012), while other authors suggest humorous distraction may actually worsen performance (Bieg et al.,…

I set out to understand how memorial site educators conceptualize Holocaust education and how notions of history, memory, and place shape their ideas. I explored the teachings of four veteran memorial site educators at a site of memory of the Holocaust in Germany. The analysis was grounded in theories of collective memory broadly (Assmann, 2010;…

An increasing number of people are going online to learn in their everyday lives. Learning and integrating new information from online sources can be difficult because it takes time and taxes human memory (Greene et al., 2018b). People must self-regulate while learning online to accurately and aptly learn new information (Azevedo, 2005).…

The present dissertation reports two experiments that examine implicit and explicit language learning methods and their impacts on early vocabulary, grammar, and phonological acquisition, in addition to working memory, proactive/reactive control, and fluid intelligence, as well as learner motivation. Experiment 1 investigated adult L2 acquisition…

The purpose of the current study was to better understand performance variability in sentence comprehension in people with aphasia, compared to a control group of adults. People with aphasia often have difficulty understanding sentences that are complex in structure and meaning. Comprehension difficulty is variable, which may confound the clinical…

Purpose: The current study aimed to investigate the behavioral and electrophysiological patterns of the sentence superiority effect (SSE) in sentence repetition in monolingual adults with typical language development. The ultimate goal of this study is to establish the foundation for future studies of SSE in sentence repetition in individuals with…

Singular "they" is becoming increasingly common and accepted, but many people find it difficult to learn, instead making seemingly-counterintuitive errors like "she uses they/them pronouns." Existing pronoun production models argue that speakers select pronouns based on morphosyntactic information associated with a name, or…

The problem addressed in this study was that students who use passive study techniques when learning medical terminology are less likely to perform well on exams and retain course content in long-term memory. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of college faculty regarding the…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties sharing past experiences. The ability to share past experiences is first developed through joint-reminiscing conversations between caregiver and child. In this study I conducted a secondary analysis of a single-case dataset to evaluate the collateral effects of family…